Why It’s Still Popular and Why You Should Play Minecraft Today

Are you one of the people that didn’t buy Minecraft at any point in your life? Because I don’t know a lot of gamers that managed to avoid this sandbox survival behemoth for long. It’s one of those games that everyone eventually ends up playing with friends, their boyfriend/girlfriend, their little brothers, sisters, and some people even play it with their kids.

What I’m trying to say is that when you buy Minecraft, you’re not buying a game. You’re buying an entertainment simulator that offers countless possibilities for anyone that steps into its world. Creativity, challenge, relaxation, teaching, this game has it all in spades.

This article is purely made for anyone that never touched Minecraft. And I’m here to say that no matter how old you are, this is one video game that you need to experience in your lifetime. If you don’t believe me, all reviews of Minecraft say the same thing.

Even questions like is Minecraft still fun, is Minecraft still good will always be met with positive answers. But, let’s see the evolution of Minecraft from one indie gem to a multi-million dollar giant that took the world by storm.

From indie powerhouse to a multi-million dollar franchise

Minecraft was destined for greatness. A sandbox action-adventure survival game where you could mine, build, craft, and do all kinds of things in a gigantic procedurally generated world. Even in its alpha development phase, Minecraft got almost 1 million registered players.

Those are big numbers for a time where indie games were quite rare. With only one developer working on the game, Minecraft started off small. A couple of biomes, four monster types, two tree types. Yet, that didn’t stop people from being obsessed with the game. Minecraft today is a whole different thing, a game so complex and expansive you could play it for years. And some people do.

Microsoft buys the Minecraft IP and Mojang for $2.5 billion

So this little action-adventure sandbox survival gem got a lot of attention. New Minecraft features and updates arrived from time to time. Everyone was obsessed with the game, hell the whole gaming world was talking about it.

Before the game was even released in November 2011, over 16 million players registered for the beta. 4 million people bought it, which is a rare occurrence even today when indie games are much more popular. Mojang cemented Minecraft as an immense success in the gaming world. Most triple-A games couldn’t hit these numbers with tons of marketing, yet Minecraft did it with none at all.

Then the unexpected happened. Microsoft bought the Minecraft IP together with Mojang, the studio that made it. Honestly, it was a jarring surprise considering how much they paid for it. But looking at Minecraft today and how much its IP grew, it’s safe to say that it was money well spent. Then, as the years went by, Microsoft kept pumping tons of content into the game together with tons of merchandise of all kinds. And so this became one of the most profitable IPs in recent gaming history.

Minecraft sale stats and playerbase numbers

Before I do my best to explain the state of Minecraft today and its never-declining popularity, let’s take a look at something. You can’t understand the magnitude of this title without taking a direct look at the Minecraft sale stats, the playerbase numbers, and so on.

First, let’s see how much money Minecraft has made since 2012.

Year	Revenue
2012	$211 million
2013	$326 million
2014	$165 million
2015	$350 million
2016	$420 million
2017	$370 million
2018	$500 million
2019	$375 million
2020	$415 million

 

Oh yeah, a lot of people think the Minecraft sale stats are insane. But once you actually take a look at them, well, your jaw ends up dropping to the floor. The IP is obviously insanely popular, from the game itself to spinoffs, the merchandise, everything is an absolute goldmine.

Secondly, we’re going to take a look at how many active players Minecraft has. Everyone in the world can buy a copy of the game, but if no one’s playing it, what’s the point? Well, time to see how many people buy Minecraft and end up playing it actively. Keep your jaw locked in place this time.

Year	Monthly active users
2016	40 million
2017	55 million
2018	75 million
2019	91 million
2020	131 million

 

Oh yeah, these numbers are definitely insane. This isn’t surprising when you consider how much effort went into this IP. Microsoft knew what they were doing when they bought Minecraft. They saw the potential in it and they went all in. That’s why in 2020, Minecraft reached 200 million total copies sold.

But why does Minecraft come back? How can one game only increase in popularity over the course of 10 freaking years? Let’s find out together.

Minecraft is popular again (aka it never stopped being popular)

A lot of people think Minecraft gets popular again every few years. That’s not the case. Minecraft stays popular throughout the years, it’s just it popularity skyrockets further due to many things. A new update, a new mod, a competition, a community event. Or maybe the biggest names in YouTube decide to do a Minecraft playthrough.

Minecraft and YouTube

Is Minecraft coming back? That’s a question you often hear a lot these days. Yet, that’s not what you should be asking. Who’s playing Minecraft on Youtube is the question everyone needs to ask.

You know how it goes with lets plays on Youtube. You see your favorite charismatic Youtuber as they just announce a new playthrough. Oh, it seems they’re playing my favorite game. They’re even playing with friends and having a ton of fun. Damn, now I’m getting that itch. That itch to stop watching and just go play the game myself with my friends.

You know what I’m talking about. We all know that feeling. Why watch others have fun when you can have fun yourself. And that’s how Minecraft keeps the cycle going. A popular streamer or content creator asks what game he/she should play. Everyone says Minecraft. Then this person experiences the immense joy of experiencing this sandbox action-survival game for the first time. And that contagious energy eventually transfers over to you, so you boot up the game also.

I mean the numbers don’t lie my friends. Minecraft had 201B views on YouTube in 2020 and it’s sitting on the first spot on “Top 5 live games watched in 2020”, and that’s coming straight from an official YouTube Blog.

So is Minecraft getting popular again? I don’t know, is PewDiePie doing another playthrough? But then again, there’s more to it. As you can tell, this game’s community is vast. However, it’s not only big, it’s incredibly loyal and supportive. That’s how your players start modding your game and making challenge maps, role-playing servers, and stuff like that.

Minecraft and its community

The evolution of Minecraft is crazy. Update after update, the game’s content expanded greatly and now it’s such a complex game that the wiki for it looks like a trilogy of a fantasy book. It’s enormous, and that’s just when you look at the official content drops.

Graphical mods, gameplay mods, quality-of-life mods, there’s everything you need. Minecraft’s modding community doesn’t rest. Like ever. These people constantly push out new content, maps, and even whole games made inside a game. That’s enough to make your head spin, but it’s the reality of Minecraft’s modding community. Working for countless hours to create something truly memorable and impressive is an immensely rewarding experience. Especially when there are millions of players that are going to enjoy your creation.

For everyone to fully understand the work that goes into some of these projects, I’m going to show you some of the most ambitious Minecraft community projects I’ve seen.

Seschellah

Seschellah is a pure mixture of gorgeous high fantasy and complex map design. It’s a giant open terrain PvP map for 24 players. It’s over 300 blocks in radius and it features gigantic cityscapes, enormous deserts, shadowy swampland, and even massive castles.

Check out this sprawling PvP powerhouse down below to truly see just how much work went into creating something this grand:

The Uncensored Library

This is a strange modern age we live in. Everything’s digitalized, human rights and freedom of speech should be a given, right? Wrong. Many countries out there practice heavy censorship. Saying something that goes against the country and its representatives could get you into a lot of trouble. You can’t even look up certain historic events or peer into recent happenings as these countries remove everything that’s a threat to their regime.

But then you gave this gem. The Uncensored Library, a Minecraft project that bypasses internet censorship completely. Empowering the young generations by providing articles that their countries outright banned. Isn’t it strange that you have to go to a video game to access independent information?

Whatever the case may be, the Uncensored Library is one of the best examples of how video games can be helpful in unimaginable scenarios.

IHOU: 違法建築

Now we get into spooky territory. See, most of us buy Minecraft and play around with our friends. We create a couple of cool buildings, maybe a small town. Depends on how much time you want to spend. Some people go the extra mile and recreate towns or buildings from other media. Then you have this:

Ihou Kenchiku, which means “Illegal Architecture” in Japanese, is an absolutely out-of-this-world creation. It’s called like this because it violates the law or standards of architecture. But oh boy does this look insane. Not only that, Ihou Kenchiku was created in 72 hours by 145 people. That’s all I have to say because there are no words that can praise this creation enough.

Remember how I said Minecraft modders create entire games and modes? Well, Cops and Robbers is an insanely popular project that’s been around forever. It’s the most basic cops and robbers game but it’s still insanely fun and the community absolutely loves it. And this isn’t even mentioning some of the really intense roleplaying modes and maps out there with cult followings, but I’ll let you explore those on your own. After all, if I keep listing these we’ll be here forever.

Peak sandbox/survival/creation gameplay

When I first decided to buy Minecraft I never played many survival games. Or anything similar for that manner. So when I was dropped in the middle of the field with no explanation, I was confused. After many confusing hours, I punched a tree. I got some wood.

Then after a couple of trips to the wiki, I started. Minecraft has too many items and systems in place. A beginner has to consult the wiki and some guides at first. But that just speaks of the game’s crazy amount of content. Anyhow, I made my first crafting table, some pickaxes, a sword, a couple of other things. Then I made the most disgusting dirt house ever and started mining downwards.

I kept going down and I ended up falling from a huge height. I respawned in the forest during the night. That’s when you notice something. The night is your enemy, don’t be outside during nighttime at the beginning. Spiders, zombies, skeletal archers, the freaking Creepers….. All kinds of monsters roam the night, so you just keep digging.

You’re going to find iron, cobble, and a ton of other stuff. Soon you’re going to craft your first suit of armor, a bed, and a couple of torches. Then it’s more digging, killing, looting chests, dying because you fell off another high cave. But, can you feel that? The wanderlust that constantly keeps growing? That’s Minecraft’s incredibly simple but insanely addictive gameplay loop that keeps you glued for your PC for an unhealthy number of hours.

Minecraft’s insane amounts of content

You need food. New materials are also necessary . You really want to get to the Nether at some point. How do you make an Enchanting Table? What the hell are these underwater temples? I can tame a freaking fox? A village is getting raided?

You see, you can buy Minecraft once in your life and there’s enough of the game to last you for a good couple of months. But then the game gets a huge update with a ton of new content. Time to start a new character once again. There’s no end to this cycle, and it never gets old. Next time you bring someone along to experience the game with you for the first time. Then you guide them through the game and both of you have an outstanding time.

While the gameplay loop is insanely simple, it’s addictive. Mine, craft, kill, explore, repeat. But all of the game’s systems and mechanics make each repetition of the loop interesting in its own right. For example, exploring normally or with enchanted equipment is like night and day. A pickaxe that really slowly wears off, a bow that deals a ton of damage, extra protective armor. Getting all of this makes you feel like an actual God. And you put in a ton of effort to acquire all of that gear so getting it feels immensely rewarding.

Then you visit the Nether biome. Minecraft’s version of Hell, it’s just filled with all the obscure and eerie materials, mobs, and items. You’ll die a lot here, but you will constantly come back. Because it’s new, dangerous, and exciting. I remember one time when my younger brother first discovered the Nether and that dude spent the whole night in front of the PC, trying to explore and loot everything. Sadly, he mostly spent his time dying to Ghasts, giant floating things that spit fireballs at you.

Limitless creative freedom

However, some people don’t want survival and all that stuff. Some just like creating or recreating all kinds of things in the Creative mode. It’s quite a simple mode where you get unlimited resources, free-flying, and you instantly destroy any blocks when you mine. So there are no limitations, just your own creativity.

You already saw some of the maps up there and their humongous scale. And thanks to post-processing and shaders and whatnot you can create some masterful visuals in a game where everything’s made out of square blocks.

Furthermore, the creativity isn’t just limited to creating huge maps with towering castles, buildings, and whatnot. Minecraft also has a ton of complex systems that you can use to make things like automated farms. It’s not as complex as something like Factorio but it’s enough for you to play around with and make something truly useful and cool. For example, use Redstone to make a tileable farm, on/off portal, or even an auto smelter. And those are just basic Redstone machines. Then you have the mad scientists that make Bomber Planers or even a freaking computer in-game. I’m not kidding, look up “Minecraft’s Most Mind-Blowing Inventions” on YouTube and see for yourself.

Thanks to brilliantly creative minds like this, the popularity of Minecraft never truly diminishes. It just calms down after a period of time only to suddenly increase again due to any of the factors mentioned above. So before you ask is Minecraft cool, you should ask just how cool and creative is the Minecraft community itself!

Constant free updates that add a ton of new content

I love it when games constantly get huge and free content drops. It’s a way for you to constantly reward your community for being loyal. In turn, all of them will praise the game 24/7 while trying to make all their friends play it with them. That’s how I also got into Minecraft at one point in my life.

Updates to Minecraft occur in two ways. The first is bug fixes and those happen every month or so. They’re basic polishing, balancing, and bug-squashing affairs that alter tiny bits and pieces of the game. The biggest ones arrive straight after huge content drops. These are the Minecraft major updates that introduce new biomes, mobs, items, blocks, and so on. Minecraft gets major updates once or sometimes twice a year.

Part 1 of Caves & Cliffs

So what is the new update for Minecraft this year? That’s Part 1 of the Caves & Cliffs. It introduces a bunch of new content, like goats, glow squids, axolotls, copper ore, amethyst geodes, stalagmites, candles, powder snow, dripleaf, cave vines, and a ton more. And that’s only part one, the second part is coming sometime during the holidays.

The Nether update

That’s what’s new in Minecraft now, but before that, we got the massive Nether update. That one revamped the entire Nether region with a ton of new areas, new mobs, and a lot of incentive to visit this place and explore it entirely.

The Nether update introduced two new Minecraft mobs, the aggressive Hoglins, and the sometimes-aggressive Piglins. You can trade with the Piglins if you’re wearing full gold armor. Just be wary of their prices as these bastards are one greedy bunch that are addicted to gold. Hoglins, also known as Piglin Beasts, don’t care about your gold armor and will attack on sight.

There are also the Netherwart Forest biomes (the Warped Forest and the Crimson Forest), the Soulsand Valley, and a ton of new blocks. Let’s just say the game’s most treacherous biome got a lot of love and it’s a place full of stuff you’ll definitely want.

What is coming in the new update for Minecraft?

Part 2 of Caves & Cliffs arrives sometime later this year. While the first part came with a lot of mobs and items, the second part introduces a lot of new biomes:

• Lush Caves
• Dripstone Cave
• Deep Dark

Besides the exciting new biomes and everything they bring, the most frightening addition of Part 2 of Caves & Cliffs is the Warden. Seems like the devs want us to be scared again. Because this sucker lives deep underground and stalks everything that moves and vibrates. Careful exploration is advised because if this thing senses your movement it’s going to hit like a truck. But don’t go thinking you’re safe with armor. Oh no, the Warden’s attacks ignore armor completely and this monstrosity has a huge health pool as well.

The future of Minecraft is looking brighter than ever

No matter how you look at it, Minecraft is only getting bigger with time. The entire IP grows slowly with tiny but successful projects, like Minecraft: Story Mode from Telltale Games and Minecraft Dungeons, a dungeon-crawler that combines Minecraft’s cute aesthetic with diablo-esque combat and looting.

Not only that, the game itself keeps getting better and bigger updates, so you buy Minecraft ones and you have something to play all your life.

Another thing you have to consider is the popularity of Minecraft. Can you walk into any store today without seeing a Creeper toy or plushie or anything else Minecraft-related? Even in my Godforsaken country we have Minecraft-themed mouse pads. Let’s not even get into the Minecraft shirts and hoodies, those are a beast in terms of popularity in their own right. Because Minecraft is cool for us adults and cute for kids, Minecraft continuously branches out and expands its IP in all possible directions.

Don’t worry about the future of Minecraft, it’s only getting brighter each year.

Where do you buy Minecraft for PC?

Ah, the real questions start now. Can I buy a Minecraft game key for cheap? Where can I buy Minecraft for PC? Don’t worry, we have you covered my friends.

Minecraft is not an expensive game, but it’s not cheap either.  Its prices range from 27 to 30 euros or your regional equivalent. So to purchase Minecraft for PC you pay half the price of triple-A games. But then you have to consider that a lot of people opt for indies these days precisely because they’re much cheaper.

However, since Minecraft is one game you have to buy and play at least once in your life, we at HRK Game have a deal for you. Everything from the base game, to the other games from in the Minecraft universe is available at HRK Game for a great price.

So when anyone asks you where did you buy Minecraft for a cheap price, the best answer is HRK Game. After all, we have lightning-fast customer support, refunds, and a ton of other great deals on all your favorite games. We’re a company made by gamers meant for gamers.